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The weekend of October 16th was a wonderful time of celebrating the wedding of our dear friends Kelly and Mondo! I have known Kelly and her family and friends for several years now, and although they all grew up together in a small town and have been friends since childhood, they have never made me feel like an outsider- they have always treated me as if I had been there all along, and I simply adore these ladies!

I hosted the bachelorette party that Thursday night with the sweetest MOH ever, Katie, at our house and it was a super fun, laid back time with some really great women. Katie and I set up a taco bar and a dessert table and asked the ladies to bring their beverages of choice.

My BFF Amber came into town that weekend to partake in the festivities, although we missed her at the bachelorette party. She came into town on Friday night after the rehearsal and joined us at Boulders on Broadway for the rehearsal dinner. Our friends Erick and Rochelle are the owners there and let me just say, the pizza was dee-lish!

Saturday was The Big Day, and all of the bridesmaids (all 8 of them!), along with Kelly's mom and cousin, came over to our house to get prettified for our big walk down the aisle.

These delicious cupcakes were made by Kelly's sister, Lindy, who also happened to make the gorgeous, bird-nest cupcakes for my baby shower! SHE'S GOOD. If you need baked items, let me know so I can get you in touch with her.

Session Nine did the photography for the Rivera wedding, so be sure to check out their site in the near future for some amazing images of the event. It took place in the huge backyard of what quickly became our dream house- the Richardson family took a quaint little house and remodeled it into something that belongs on HGTV! Again, with the lack of pictures!

Kel, thank you for asking me to stand with you as you married the love of your life! It was truly such an honor! I adore each of you separately, but even more so together… and I can't wait to see what God has planned for the shared life that's unfolding before you. You both chose well, and it was an amazing weekend! Just remember, if it weren't for my and Amber's phenomenal and lawyer-like pursuasive skills at the YH last year, you may not have taken that risk and jumped in with that amazing guy from Colorado who is now your husband! Haha! Kidding. And p.s., the traveling pants will be making their journey your way very, very soon.

Whew… what a week! Alex and I threw Jessica's baby shower today and it was so much fun! We went with a Vintage Circus theme a la TomKat Studio, complete with frilly and feathery hairpieces for the mom-to-be and smaller ones for ourselves. Our friends Rachel and Joy were so helpful in pulling everything together- not to mention it was held at Joy's AMAZING new home!

We hosted an open house as opposed to a formal shower with games, etc. None of us are big on baby shower games, haha. We had all kinds of food and drinks that you would find at a circus- popcorn, mixed nuts, candy, peanuts in the shell, Mexican Coke, and lots more. It was incredibly relaxed and good to gather with dear friends and Jess's family.

Here are some pictures… enjoy!

Welcome to your shower!

Jess LOVES Coke, so of course that had to be our featured drink!

An old-fashioned popcorn maker… so fun and SO vintage circus!

Joy and her adorable little peanut zippin' up the stairs!

Alex and me hostessing it up.

Jess and Joy.

Lots of fun presents… including a so-ugly-you-can't-help-but-adore-him, yellow, googly-eyed monster. Can you spot him? (I mean, seriously… how could you not?)

Another one of THESE? I'm not sure I can handle it… the cuteness, that is.

All of us girls after the festivities- Rachel, Joy, Jess, Alex and me.

I had a totally fabulous 30th birthday party! It was so wonderful having my family and many of my friends there to celebrate with me. It meant so much to have everyone there, and I missed everyone who couldn't make it.

It was a lot of fun putting together all the details! Because I have always loved rainbows, and my favorite collection at the TomKat Studio is the Rainbow Party theme, I researched colorful inspiration and decor, and here's what I came up with. I only had my point-and-shoot, so please pardon the less-than-worthy quality of these photos!

The dessert table:

Rainbow Twizzlers and the Cake Pops I made a la Bakerella. I switched up the red velvet for a rich devil's food instead.

This is my Amma's wine cake: AMAZINGNESS ON A PLATE and my special request for my birthday. It's my favorite cake by far and it was a huge hit at the party! I dressed it up with a rainbow of handmade tissue paper flowers, a craft I found in the Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts:

Inspired by Amy Atlas's InStyle feature– which was a super exciting time for us at TKS as it included some labels designed by Kim– as well as the 107-degree weather, I included a sundae bar on the dessert table. My favorite combo? Chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce and sea salt.

I fell in love with this rainbow of glass bottles my mom and I found at HomeGoods:

Made a whole rainbow of poms- these will come in handy for future parties as well! Have a color theme? There's a pom for that.

Made a rainbow tutu for Linnea. Somehow it ended up on Hanalei halfway through the evening:

I couldn't resist these silly moustaches… and neither could Ryan and Alex. How much do you love her skirt? We went on a little thrift shopping excursion a few weeks ago and she found it at Goodwill. It was originally a dress and she turned it into a skirt- fabulous!

My goofy husband: who needs a moustache when you can have ridiculous eyebrows instead?

We asked people to bring either their favorite beer or their favorite pot luck item, so we provided our family's all-time favorite sandwiches: Mum Mum's ham buns. It's a secret family recipe, so no, you can't have it! 😉

The vuvuzelas… ha!

And, of course, who can forget my favorite part of the entire party? Linnea dressed up in her rainbow tutu and bow! She couldn't possibly be any cuter, just FYI. Such a supermodel.

Thanks to my hubby, my mom and my Amma for helping put everything together. And thanks to everyone who came from near and far. It was such a blessing getting to celebrate with you!

Now that the house is back to normal, I'll begin planning Cody and Linnea's birthday party… 99% sure I have the theme for that one picked out! But I have nearly six months to plan this one, so I think I'll relax for a little while 🙂